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The Full Monty (2023)
Depressing
One of the best aspects of The Full Monty (1997) was that it was a feel good movie. We know the lives of the main characters will not change drastically because of that one gig, that may be got them some money to go through for a little while and then they would be on the dole again, except for Gerald, but anyway we felt good for them for achieving their goal against all odds. It was about overcoming difficulties. Even the bonds between Gaz and Nat and Dave and Jean got strengthened.
Now we meet the gang 25 years later and it's simply depressing: Gerald is just a cameo, we don't know much about him, only imagine he's retired, what about his wife? He seemed so overprotective towards her? He barely speaks a few lines. Horse became Daniel Blake and how come nobody noticed what he was going through and tried to help him? They knew he had to go to another town for an appointment and nobody managed to get him a lift? And where are all of his relatives that we saw in the movie attending the rehearsal? He was probably close to those women to invite them to attend that sort of rehearsal. Jean was a sweet supporting character in the movie, now she's the main character and has become an arrogant because she has not overcome a trauma of ten years ago. Why go through this path? I'd love to see Dave and Jean happy with kids, maybe struggling to make ends meet but also being loving to each other as they were.
And then there's Lomper who seems to be having an ok life with his partner but then almost loses everything because he wanted to earn the respect of his partner. Really? They seem to get along well and that was a stupid move even for Lomper. Then there's Guy whom we didn't know much from the movie and end up not knowing much more and since the actor was fired, that's it. As for Gaz, in some episodes he was a mere cameo and in others he was just inserted in some lame situations like helping the patient with artistic talent and getting fired. I would expect Gaz to be still struggling to go through life but in a smarter way, maybe coming up with a magical plan to get some money like their gig in the film. And as for his daughter and friends as well as the kid that Dave was protecting at school I couldn't care less, they and their plot seemed like they came from a bad episode of Skins that was thrown in the trash as well as the subplot of the choir saving youngsters, haven't we seen this in many other movies? Besides I watched the series for the original gang, not for them or that Darren character that got more time than the main characters.
The Full Monty lost its charm, that feel good feeling, even the music was so perfect, the original soundtrack as well the other music that were hits from the 70s and 80s, chosen not for the dance numbers but probably because the belonged to the main characters' youth. I was expecting they would find a way to replicate at least a bit of the original emblematic dance number, but even this was ruined as they were coerced to do that by a lunatic at gunpoint.
If there's a second season, I won't be watching. What's the point? There's enough drama series around, two of the main characters are gone and I don't care for the new ones they forced on us.
The Old Curiosity Shop (1995)
What a mess!
What a disappointment! I only watched it because of the great reviews but I think the writers messed up so much that the story lost its essence. They took away some great charismatic characters of the book such as The Marchioness, the Garlands, Barbara (Kit's real love interest), the children and the people of the last village Nell and her grandfather stay. Also Dick Swiveller is such a complex character who had even the chance to redeem himself in the end and get a new start, but in the movie he's just a pathetic idiot. On the other hand, they gave such an importance to Quilp's wife who does not have much importance or voice throughout the development of the story as she was really submissive with Quilp in the book. All the interaction of the people and specially the children in Nell's final destination was simply cut out and it was such a beautiful moment because she captivated everybody and was finally in peace and happy. In the book, the grandfather was so useless and no help at all, but in the movie he was giving advice on how to proceed during their journey and even survived in the end while in the book he couldn't manage to live alone with all his guilty for her destiny and death. It's a shame that some of the best passages of the book were simply left out and so much new stuff was put in. And why is Nell always wearing the same dress? I know she had no money, but she could have taken at least another dress along when she ran away or even Mrs. Jarley would have given her another one. It just makes it feels like everything happened in such a short time.
The Undoing (2020)
HBO owes me 6 hours of my life
What a terrible miniseries. I started watching it because I'm a fan of Hugh Grant but it was so bad that it was painful to watch until the end. The writing was so lame and full of clichés. We spent 6 long hours watching it and waiting for an interesting development but instead we get an obvious one. The last episode seemed like it was written in 15 minutes and even the writer thought it was to "meh" and decided to add that final incredibly long annoying and unnecessary scene. It's amazing that I couldn't sympathize with any of the characters, probably only the victim's son, Miguel. All the others were so badly developed and uninteresting only trying to look like suspects to keep our interest. And why, oh why all the actors performed as if they had just got their degree from the Joye Tribbiani acting course?
Christmas on the Square (2020)
Painful to Watch (spoilers)
I was really anxious to watch this movie. I love Christine Baranski and Treat Williams and Christmas movies and musicals. But the songs were kind of boring, too much religion and God, some bad acting and the plot was so lame. A mixture of scrooge with all sorts of romantic cliches. But I was kind of going along until the twist near the end. So the main character is mean and cruel because she had a love disappointment and gets pregnant at very young age. So her father forces her to give the baby for adoption and she keeps resentment towards him throughout her adult life even after he died, but then she discovers that he gave the baby to a local person and kept watching and caring for the boy until he grew up and then the mother simply forgives the father and thinks he was a wonderful man. Come on, your father stole your baby and kept you from raising him and knowing who he was!
Hank and Asha (2013)
What a hidden gem!
I just discover this movie this week. It's a shame it's been around for seven years. I was just amazed by the sensibility and delicacy of it. Such a common story of online love told in such a beautiful and realistic way. I see people complaining about the ending, but for me it was just perfect. Having had a similar relationship, it makes sense completely. Love the actors and would like to see more of them. I was just checking for other movies of the director and was so frustrated that this seems to be his only work so far.
O Maior Amor do Mundo (2006)
Disappointment
Before watching this movie I read some good reviews about it but I was kind of disappointed in it. Despite great performances by the cast I think the director told the story in a very male conservative point of view, i.e., the forty-something maestro has a pretty intelligent caring wife but he has an affair with a poor beautiful teenager that lives in the slums of Rio de Janeiro. First of all it is hard to understand why this girl would even fall in love for this man who besides being much older and not handsome at all is a very boring person. Anyway the girl gets pregnant and the obnoxious maestro leaves her to give birth to his own child in that poor neighborhood deprived of health assistance and she ends up dying at delivery. He later tells the boy that he was born ahead time, is that an excuse for not helping her at child birth? In my opinion it was a moral obligation at least to provide her a safer and cleaner place to live from the beginning of her pregnancy. But the worst thing is that the ghost of the girl 55 years late talks about this love affair as a wonderful marvelous thing! Like it was worth dying abandoned so young and in such a stupid way for a couple of weeks of love with that annoying man... I mean this portraits just the fantasy of most men: to be middle aged and still able to have young girls falling for them and even dying for a moment of love with them... That even brings us to the sex scene between the main character, Antonio, and the young girl, Luciana. Again a much older man having an affair with much younger girl, why couldn't he fall in love with someone older like his assistant?? Anad what about the old lady who has just lost her grandson to the traffic war in Rio, thinking that it would be a good idea that Luciana have a baby of dying man in that poverty scenario having to raise the kid by her own... very pretty story just in the mind of the author!! Nothing looks very realistic in the drama of those lives, the only message left is that older men married or not should pursue the fantasy of having an affair with a young teenager...